Learn@UW Utility Service Status Update
September 23, 2009
Fall ’09
The start to the fall semester is going extremely well. The system is handling increased traffic with relative ease and the service experienced no major outages during the start of the semester.
We track login attempts as one measurement to assess use of the service (see graph below). There was an 8% decrease in login attempts during the start of the fall semester when compared to fall ’08. The decrease is
explained by two factors: 1) the nine-day period for fall ’09 included the Labor Day holiday and weekend, 2) the UW campuses had a more staggered schedule for the start of the fall ’09 semester as compared to fall ’08. The Learn@UW Utility did not have a full load of campuses until September 9, 2009.
941,492
1,190,117
1,358,024
1,246,420
0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000 1,400,000
Aggregate Login Attempts
Fall '09 Fall '08
Fall '07 Fall '06
Fall Usage - 9 days at start of semester
A review of the peak login attempts (see graph on the next page) depicts an increase in login attempts towards the latter part of the first nine days.
It is interesting to note that hourly login attempts typically peak around mid- day, except for Sundays when the peak occurs during the evening.
Peak Login Attempts (Fall '09 v. Fall '08)
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000 18,000
Sept. 2 Sept. 3 Sept. 4 Sept. 5 Sept. 6 Sept. 7 Sept. 8 Sept. 9 Sept. 10
Fall '09 Fall '08
What contributed to this success?
Testing and assessment of new version, D2L 8.4 MR2/MR3, in advance of the upgrade that occurred prior to the start of the semester.
Continued development and deployment of process and infrastructure improvements to provide a high-quality, robust, and reliable service.
Sharing of information with colleagues at peer institutions using D2L
Campus liaisons, Learn@UW/D2L Steering Committee, UW System Administration, Learn@UW Utility staff, and other stakeholders Learn@UW Traffic in Aggregate
The following chart shows Learn@UW traffic through the first two weeks of the semester (Tuesday, September 1 – Saturday, September 12). A pattern clearly emerges depicting the usage behavior of students and faculty.
Spring ‘09
Each semester the number of faculty and students using the Learn@UW service, hosting the D2L course management system, continues to grow.
The number of Learn@UW courses offered in spring ’09 increased 11% when compared to spring ’08. The same percentage increase occurred with the number of active enrollments (see the “Learn@UW Usage Growth” chart depicting growth in courses and enrollments from fall ’03 to spring ‘09).
Most of these courses supplement face-to-face (f2f) rather than fully online courses. Of the 173,000 students enrolled in the UW 145,074 (84%) are active users of Learn@UW, and they are indeed active (see the “Learn@UW Usage Breakdown by Campus (spring ’09)” table for a breakdown of courses and active enrollments by campus).
Usage typically peaks at the start of each week and remains steady throughout the end of the semester. There is student activity 24 hours a day, with peak usage occurring at midday and mid-evening.
Learn@UW Usage Growth
11,886
13,298 13,569 15,711
15,123
7,755
3,007
7,817 9,883
11,613 10,985
1,373
0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000
Fall 2003 Spring 2004
Fall 2004 Spring 2005
Fal l 2005
Spring 2006 Fall 20
06
Spring 2007 Fall 2007
Spring 2008 Fall 20
08
Spring 2009 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000 18,000 Enrollments
Courses
Learn@UW Usage Breakdown by Campus (spring ’09) Institution1 Courses Active
Enrollments
UW-Colleges 1,035 23,933
UW-Colleges Online 80 2,141
UW-Eau Claire 716 24,924
UW-Extension 7 81
UW-Green Bay 333 14,418
UW-La Crosse 675 25,388
UW Learning Innovations 184 2,934
UW-Madison 1,720 77,681
UW-Milwaukee 2,023 96,284
UW-Oshkosh 2,136 49,901
UW-Parkside 319 9,733
UW-Platteville 1,721 38,900
UW-River Falls 754 20,781
UW-Stevens Point 662 22,919
UW-Stout 1,075 29,840
UW-Superior 630 10,366
UW System 67 1,437
UW-Whitewater 986 35,759
Totals 15,123 487,420
Learn@UW Grade Submission by Campus (spring ’09)
Use of the Grade Submission tool has increased when compared to spring
’08. The number of faculty using the functionality increased 41%, submitting 20% more grades within 46% more sections than spring ’08. This change represents significant growth in the use of the Grade Submission tool.
Institution # of
Grades # of Sections
Average # of Grades per
Section # of
Instructors
UW-Colleges 1,015 51 19.9 23
UW-Green Bay 5,235 129 40.58 51
UW-Madison 11,660 192 60.73 95
UW-Milwaukee 13,995 360 38.88 133
UW-Oshkosh 6,678 184 36.29 65
UW-River Falls 5,143 194 26.51 70
UW-Whitewater 6,043 191 31.64 66
Totals 49,769 1,301 503
Learn@UW Concurrent Connections by Campus
The following charts show Learn@UW connections by campus throughout the first month of the spring ’09 semester (Monday, January 19 – Tuesday,
February 17, 2009).
